It is easier to ship recipes than cakes and biscuits

I have heard the quote "It is easier to ship recipes than cakes and biscuits" attributed to John Maynard Keynes. My interpretation aligns precisely with my business model. Provide guidance and resources for  scaling--by data hungry masses within their own context and frameworks.

​The idea is powerful but I am also challenged by transparency. The thought of efforts being misinterpreted and applied erroneously to large tangible problems is a scary one for sure. But I am buoyed by similar habits in the open source movement. If Jonas Salk, Madame Curie, or even the actual inventor of the web, Tim-Berners Lee, had patented their discoveries the world as we know it would be a far less innovative and I would argue less hospitable place.

Listen to Alastair Parvin's brief Ted Talk below. Maybe like me, when you hear him reveal the possibilities in rethinking  the role of architecture--you hear an identical argument for data stakeholders--statisticians, data scientists, and even computer programers.

The snapshot from the IMS prospectus reveals how big the data business has become. Reporting 2.44 billion in 2012, revenue has only grown with the IMS Health and Quintiles merger -- to 7.2 billion in 2015.

In fact, here are the latest figures reported following the merger. If you think data, more data, and BIG data is your problem--I am not going to be able to convince you that there are alternative ways to gain the information you need. Or better yet, perhaps there is a different solution that doesn't include building something bigger or grander in scale. It will make sense once you listen to the podcast--or read along. I pulled some of the more relevant quotes from the talk.

The first is, I think we need to question this idea that architecture is about making buildings. Actually, a building is about the most expensive solution you can think of to almost any given problem. And fundamentally, design should be much, much more interested in solving problems and creating new conditions.--Alastair Parvin from the TED stage

So here's a story. The office was working with a school, and they had an old Victorian school building.

​And they said to the architects, "Look, our corridors are an absolute nightmare. They're far too small. They get congested between classes. There's bullying. We can't control them. So what we want you to do is re-plan our entire building, and we know it's going to cost several million pounds, but we're reconciled to the fact."

And the team thought about this, and they went away, and they said, "Actually, don't do that. Instead, get rid of the school bell. And instead of having one school bell that goes off once, have several smaller school bells that go off in different places and different times, distribute the traffic through the corridors."It solves the same problem, but instead of spending several million pounds, you spend several hundred pounds. 

​Now, it looks like you're doing yourself out of a job, but you're not. You're actually making yourself more useful. Architects are actually really, really good at this kind of resourceful, strategic thinking. And the problem is that, like a lot of design professions, we got fixated on the idea of providing a particular kind of consumer product, and I don't think that needs to be the case anymore.--Alastair Parvin from the TED stage

Data questions often begin the same way. The phone rings. We need data. Can you access claims data? EMR data? Patient satisfaction surveys? Clients are often convinced they need a statistician, data analyst or a computer programer before they have even articulated the question. Yes, these professionals are quite valuable and needed--I wear these different hats myself on a regular basis--but they are not responsible for articulating your question for you.

​I would guess the recipe is what persists. If you are a data stakeholder or rely on big data for gleaning insights, you know the price.

So if we're serious about problems like climate change, urbanization and health, actually, our existing development models aren't going to do it. As I think Robert Neuwirth said, there isn't a bank or a corporation or a government or an NGO who's going to be able to do it if we treat citizens only as consumers. 

How extraordinary would it be, though, if collectively we were to develop solutions not just to the problem of structure that we've been working on, but to infrastructure problems like solar-powered air conditioning, off-grid energy, off-grid sanitation -- low-cost, open-source, high-performance solutions that anyone can very, very easily make, and to put them all into a commons where they're owned by everyone and they're accessible by everyone? 

​A kind of Wikipedia for stuff? And once something's in the commons, it will always be there. How much would that change the rules? And I think the technology's on our side.--Alastair Parvin from the TED stage

What am I suggesting? I think we need to slow down. Define the actual solution. The digital exhaust has been spewing claims data, EMR data, and patient reported data with such ferocity I think we are losing our way.

“If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.” – George Bernard Shaw 

We need to look away from monopolistic data silos and learn to navigate the shared data landscape. Educate ourselves and ask the questions. Rethink the problem this way: And fundamentally, DATA should be much, much more interested in solving problems and creating new conditions.--Alastair Parvin from the TED stage. Recipes are great, but sometimes you just want a donut...

The risk in presenting your ideas is not that they will be stolen, but that they will be copied poorly Stephen Chavez, President and Co-founder, Health Advocacy Partners